


cheers

by godcomplexfics (godtiercomplex)



Series: this seems like a fix it upper [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 19:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9339107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godtiercomplex/pseuds/godcomplexfics
Summary: INTERNAL MEMOJuly 13th, 20xxDue to an incident over the summer the Science Department and additionally the Fine Arts and Dance Department's main buildings have been deemed uninhabitable for the upcoming semester. As such new locations have been secured for all scheduled classes for the upcoming semester both on and off campus. Further details can be secured by talking with your department head.From the Desk of the President and the Provost





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alstonwiggles (captainalston)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainalston/gifts).



> -Shows up on the last day drinking Starbucks- 
> 
> So, this was written for the [samstevegiftexchange ](https://samstevegiftexchange.tumblr.com/) which is actually the first time I've joined one? As long time followers know I have ~issues~ with keeping stuff in a word range that I aim for (aka I say 'this will be 1K!' and then end up with a 13K monster fanfic). That's exactly what happened here, and Alston I am so sorry for that. But, I also want to thank you? 
> 
> This will be part of a series of one shots that will be about the prompt Alston gave me: University Professors. 
> 
> Please enjoy this first part!

**INTERNAL MEMO**

July 13th, 20xx

 

Due to an incident over the summer the Science Department and additionally the Fine Arts and Dance Department's main buildings have been deemed uninhabitable for the upcoming semester. As such new locations have been secured for all scheduled classes for the upcoming semester both on and off campus. Further details can be secured by talking with your department head.

 

_From the Desk of the President and the Provost_

 

The so-called incident was a failed experiment by the university’s residential mad scientists. Sam Wilson was one of the few who had still been in town for the summer when the Stark and Banner decided to do _something_ that blew up the lower levels of the Science Department’s building and somehow also _infected_ the Fine Arts and Dance Department’s building next door. Infected was an interesting word choice, and yet no one wanted to fully explain what it meant and when pressed instead would insist they meant something else. Sam had tried to hassle Rhodey, Stark’s best friend and the head of the Public Safety Office, into giving him more details but Rhodey refused to budge on the matter. Whatever had happened on the campus on July 10th was top secret information, and Sam obviously wasn’t going to be allowed to know.

The fact that their campus operated on people only being given information on a need to know basis had bothered Sam for a while, but he had bigger concerns. On July 15th, Sam had been summoned into a department chair meeting and they had been told to figure out how many of the displaced Fine Arts and Science classes they could fit into their buildings. The campus was due to open back up to graduate students by mid-august and undergraduate students would be coming in mass to start classes the week after. They had little under 3 weeks to get it sorted out. Not only that, but they would also need to find temporary offices for the professors who had lost their homes due to Stark and Banner. Despite the time limit, Sam managed to accept as many art classes as possible into the History Department’s building, but got away with claiming that his building wasn’t up to code to house any of the science classes.

The rest of July passed in a blur of professors returning and gossip swimming around as rumors went around of Stark and Banner getting possibly fired. Sam doubted that would happen given that all that Stark and Banner brought to the university (when they weren’t _infecting_ it with experiments). Sam decided to ignore the professors gossiping in the break room and head back to his office. He still had a few syllabi to finalize, books to double check in the bookstore, and a complaint to file (yet again) with the maintenance about a leak in the lecture hall. He was starting to think that either the maintenance people were incompetent at their job or that they just weren’t fixing what they claimed to fix.

“They’re so lazy,” he muttered under his breath as he rounded the corner, reaching for his door key as he checked his phone for a confirmation email from them.

“Who is?”

Sam looked up and saw a stranger standing with boxes marked _Office_ and _Class_ next to his door.

“The maintenance people,” Sam said and then paused taking in the guy’s sweats and plain shirt. He held back his first comment of _You’re not one of them, are you?_ but barely. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, actually if you’re Sam. I was told to come up here to get the key to my new office.”

Sam nodded and then unlocked his door, waving the other guy inside. His office was a mess from all the planning he’d had to do, but he’d get it sorted back out soon enough.

“And I thought us art professors were chaotic.”

Sam didn’t glance back at him as he went to his desk and found the baggie filled with office keys. Thankfully it wasn’t as full as it had been earlier in the week, but it still had a few more keys to be picked up. When he looked up, the other guy had sat down his boxes on the end of Sam’s desk and was looking at his bookcase and the photos he had alongside the books.

“What’s your name?” Sam asked, though he had a feeling that the guy wasn’t Ashleigh or Dana. He was either Steven Rogers or Jackson Roethke.

“Steve,” the man said. “Is this you in Africa?”

“Liberia to be exact.” Sam put the rest of the keys away and came over to the bookcase. “Your office is down the hall. Did you have a chance to explore the rest of the building?”

Steve pulled a face, as he accepted the key and sat down the photo. “No. Are you offering to show me around?”

“I wouldn’t dare when there are TAs downstairs just looking for work to do. You’ll make their day,” Sam laughed and headed back to his desk to sit down.

Steve picked up his boxes. “Wouldn’t make yours though, huh?”

Sam leaned forward in his chair and looked up at Steve. “My day will be made when I can get maintenance to fix that leak in the roof like I asked them to last semester.”

Steve shifted the boxes in his arms. “Right, since they’re being lazy about it. Did you file a complaint?”

Sam laughed, “Yeah, I will get right on that. I hope you like your office, Rogers.”

“It’s Steve,” Steve corrected, but then he shrugged and left Sam alone. Steve even closed the door behind him which was something few people rarely did. Sam sighed, rubbed at his face, and turned to his computer. He had work to do after all.

Sam edited his syllabi for two of his African-American history classes in light of recent events. Due to the changes, his upper level class gained almost a page more of additional readings which meant more editing would have to happen. He didn’t want to overwhelm them, after all. After that, he stretched, looked out of his office window, saw Steve talking with one of the TAs in front of the department house, and went back to his desk to call the bookstore. Every semester they never had enough of his requested books in stock, but they claimed that they would this year. He doubted it, so he made a note to photocopy the first few chapters of the assigned readings for his class just in case. Rather, he made a note for one of the TAs to do it and included a sketch of a bird on the bottom half of the sheet. He checked for messages from the maintenance department and was not surprised at the lack of a response.

Sam gave up and decided to just go home for the day since it was already pushing two and it wasn’t like there were any students on campus that he needed to meet with. He stopped off at the downstairs office to drop off his books with his assigned TA who seemed really, really distracted with her phone.

“Okay, Adriana, what has your attention this much?”

Instead of replying like a normal person, Adriana sat her phone on the counter and pressed play on a video. It took Sam a moment to realize that it was Steve on the rooftop, shirtless, and that the video was live. It took him another moment to realize that Steve was on _his_ rooftop, shirtless, and doing _something_.

“Is this on Twitter?”

“Facebook,” Adriana corrected him. “Don’t worry, only Professor Lynn’s friends can see it!”

Which was half the university. Sam sighed, and looked up for guidance but all he heard _now_ was apparently Steve and Lynn outside chatting like he was just allowed to…

“What is he doing?” Sam asked.

“Fixing the roof.”

“Fixing the…” Sam shook his head. “Try and have those photocopied and in my mailbox before tomorrow. I have to go and stop this nonsense.”

Adriana started laughing and as Sam went out the front door he didn’t think she was breathing. Lynn Ronald or as Sam not-so-affectionately called her the ban of his life was standing outside on a bench with her phone pointed at the roof. Sam turned around, as expected there was Steve up on his roof and he was shirtless in the summer’s heat.

“What are you two doing?” Sam asked Lynn first. Lynn was his mother’s age but had none of her sense. She was one of the ridiculous people he ever had to work with.

“Stevie decided to fix the leak in the lecture hall! Isn’t that sweet of him?” Lynn asked.

 _Sweet_ wasn’t the word that Sam would have chosen, but yeah sure, okay. “Why are you recording it?”

Lynn raised an eyebrow. “Do you see those muscles?”

“Don’t you have planning to do for the semester, Lynn?” Sam asked instead of everything else he wanted to say.

“Already done all that, Sammy!”

Sam looked to the left and then to the right, and then he turned to the house and saw the ladder that Steve had apparently used to get up on the roof. “Stop recording, Lynn.”

“Kids these days don’t know how to have fun,” Lynn muttered. Sam turned back to her and she had lowered her hands and pocketed her phone. “Don’t fall, Stevie!”

Steve heard her and waved a hand, and then he noticed Sam and waved at him too. Sam shook his head. Lynn settled down on the bench and folded her hands into her lap. When Sam looked at her, she smiled serenely at him.

“Someone has to be here to call 911 when you two fall.”

Sam walked away from her and headed to the ladder. Steve was waiting when he got to the top, and Sam just sat on the roof and looked at the hole Steve had made.

“Man, what are you doing to my house?”

“Your house?”

“My house.” Sam confirmed. “Do you even know how to fix a roof?”

“No, I just got up here with all these tools and decided to fuck you over.” Sam looked over to see Steve leaning on one hand and wiping off his forehead with his other and a cloth that had to be his shirt from earlier. “I know what I’m doing. I don’t think maintenance has been doing their job.”

“No shit.” Sam looked at Steve and considered him. “I wouldn’t think an art professor would know how to fix a roof.”

Steve flashed him a grin. “I’m well versed.”

“Right,” Sam drawled out. “How soon can you fix this?”

“It’s already fixed. I just have to replace all the tiles.”

Sam looked at him. “What?”

“I’ve already been doing this for like two hours. It was a simple enough problem. I’m surprised maintenance ignored it for so long.”

“Probably busy with the Science Lab clean up.”

“Or were they really just ignoring you out of laziness?”

Steve looked so serious asking that question, and Sam couldn’t help but laugh. Sam patted Steve on his shoulder, a friendly gesture despite the fact that Steve was shirtless. “In the end, the roof got fixed. I’ll focus on picking battles when they count. I owe you one for this.”

“So…” Steve said as Sam made his way back to the ladder, “Can I ask for anything then?”

Sam considered that, before nodding and saying, “Short of my office, yeah.”

Steve laughed, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sam shook his head and made his way back safely down to the disappointment, he was sure, of Lynn. The old bird was on her phone but thankfully wasn’t recording, Sam noted as he passed her by on his way to his car.

“Goodbye, Lynn.”

“Bye, bye Sammy!”

Sam would have to double check the class schedules, but he was praying that he and Lynn weren’t scheduled to be in the building on the same days. His life was stressful enough once the undergrads would arrive without the added walking disaster that was that woman.

* * *

 

Maintenance eventually got back to him the following week and told him that they hadn’t noticed any issues, and Sam resisted the urge to send back a _No Shit_ message. It had rained the previous day and Steve had excitedly asked him to check and make sure that his work was holding up. Sam had stood right at the spot where the roof had previously leaked and there had been nothing. Steve had looked so smug when Sam told him that he had done a good job.

Steve still hadn’t told Sam what he wanted as his reward for fixing the roof, and that was weird but Sam decided to just ignore it. The most pressing matter to Sam currently was that he had several emails from the Black Student Club on campus all asking him to be their new advisor since their former one was out on paternity leave. He was trying to decide if he had time in his busy schedule for that or not. It would be yet another huge responsibility, after all. He was also trying to figure out if he should stop by the hospital to congratulate T’Challa and his wife on the birth of their firstborn child. Some couples liked privacy, and yet others liked for all the visits to be gotten out of the way before they went home. He decided it was best to just call and ask.

There was a knock on his door, and then after he gave permission, Steve came into his office and made himself at home in one of the moon chairs someone had given him. Steve was once more in sweats and a plain shirt, and Sam couldn’t figure out why he dressed like that when he never was covered in paint.

“Did you need something, Steve?” Sam asked after Steve had started looking at some figures on his desk. They were from one of his former students who had gone on to grad school to be an MFA candidate. Her thesis when he had last checked was something like _Artistic Experience of the African Slave in the Antebellum South._

“Yeah, actually. The room you assigned me is too small.”

“Too small for what?”

“For art. There’s no way we’ll be able to fit our models in there and the students comfortably.”

“Wait, models?”

“For my advanced classes I bring in models and we draw them. I need a bigger room than the one you gave me. Something I can push the chairs back, make a circle with, give the model some props and...” Steve demonstrated with his hands, and Sam just looked at him. “What?”

“This is the first I’m hearing about models.”

“It’s in the syllabus.” Sam just looked at Steve, who sighed. “Are there any bigger rooms in the building?”

“The lecture hall is the biggest room we have.”

“Can I use that one then?”

Sam sighed. “What time and days are your advanced classes? Send that to an email to me and cc Lauren on it. We’ll see what we can do.”

Steve grinned at him and pulled out his phone, “Doing that now. So, did you hear about the infection?”

“What infection?”

“The one Stark and Banner caused with their experiment. I was out of town this summer, but damn, Natasha was livid.”

“Natasha?”  

“The VP? Natasha Romanoff? Short red head?”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Right, that Natasha. What about the infection?”

“I don’t have the details, but whatever it is they did…” Steve laughed, “The administrators aren’t very happy. I heard that the entire northern part of campus has been determined to be infected.”  

Sam frowned at that. “Is it even safe for us to be on campus?” They were on the southern side of campus, but the campus wasn’t _that_ big. “Is it safe for us to be letting students come back?”

Steve leaned forward, resting his elbows on Sam’s desk as he did so. “Banner and Stark are claiming that it’s not toxic to humans.”

“Then who is it toxic to?”

“Exactly. What were they even _doing_ is the better question.” Steve shook his head. “Go away for two months…”

“Steve, I’ve been on campus since they did whatever it is they did.”

“Well,” Steve slowly looked him up and down, “you look fine to me.”

“Right, and they were at the heart of it and they’re still alive…” Sam said, ignoring Steve’s look for now. “Whatever. Let’s just make it through this semester alive.”

Steve laughed, “I know what you mean. Students come back next week. Are you ready?”

“Never.”

Steve laughed again, “Same. But we’ll be fine. Probably.” Steve leaned back and then stood up to go. “Oh, Sam, wanna go out for drinks later?”

“Later? How much later?” Sam looked at his computer, and noticed the time. “How about we try and make the afternoon happy hour?”

“As long as you promise not to drink and drive, sure.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Gimme five to finish up here.”

“Sure,” Steve said, “I’ll be in my office.”

Sam ended up taking ten minutes to make a call to T’Challa to get an invitation to visit his newly expanded family that Saturday, reply to the advisor request, and shut down his office for the day. When he stopped by Steve’s office down the hall it was to find him on the phone with someone named Bucky who he ended his call with on a smile. Steve had also changed out of his sweats into a nicer shirt and jeans at some point.

“Sorry for taking so long,” Sam said as he took in a Steve who looked much better in jeans than sweatpants.

“You’re fine. Do you have a place in mind for happy hour?”

“A few,” Sam said. They discussed their options as they made their way downstairs but got stopped by Professor Lynn of all people just outside the door. She was smoking on the front porch, directly in front of the no smoking sign. Sam sighed.  

“Stevie! Sammy!” Lynn said, “Where are you two off to in such a rush?”

“Home,” Sam said.

Lynn looked between them, and then grinned, “Together?”

“Yup,” Steve said. “See you tomorrow, Lynn.”

Sam was about to correct whatever was going on in Lynn’s head, he could see the gears turning, but then decided that he just did not care. “Goodbye, Lynn.”

Steve started laughing slightly and Sam just shook his head as they headed to the parking lot.

“That’s going to be all over her Facebook page,” Sam said as he reached for his car keys.

“That we’re going home together? Does that bother you?”

“Not at all,” Sam said. “The day I let things Lynn says bother me is the day I give up being the Department Chair. Does it bother _you_?”

Sam glanced over to see Steve watching at him with a smile. “I’m the one who asked you to come with me to happy hour.”

Now that was a look and words that he couldn’t easily dismiss. He found that he actually didn’t want to dismiss them either.

So, Sam smiled back. “So you did.”

* * *

 

They’d decided on a bar and grill that was in between their homes, and Steve was parking his motorcycle when Sam pulled up. They met up at the front door and picked a table near the back, away from the door, but not so far from the bar itself.

“This is nice,” Steve said, sipping from his water glass while they waited on their first round of drinks.

Sam turned the menu over, and then in a casual way replied, “Nice, huh?”

“Yeah, to get away from campus with you.”

Sam looked up at that and let the menu come to a rest against the table. “If you keep that up, I might start getting the wrong idea.” Steve smirked, and Sam raised up a hand in surrender. “Or would it be the right idea?”

“Depends on if you think it could be.”

“I don’t know if Lynn could handle tension in the building if we had a one night stand, Steve.” Sam tried to make it into a joke, but he could tell he had misstepped when Steve leaned back and crossed his arms. “What?”

“I wasn’t planning on making you a one night anything, Sam.”

“Oh,” Sam said, and then leaned back himself. “Do I get a say in that?”

Steve laughed and leaned forward. “I would hope so.”

Sam looked at him, and nodded for a moment, before he frowned. “What exactly are you offering, Steve?”

Steve offered him a smile, but before he said anything the server arrived with their drinks. Sam waited until she had taken their orders for a late lunch before looking back at Steve who stopped smiling and looked thoughtful instead.

“What am I offering?”

“Yes.”

“Well… short of my office…” Steve said teasingly, and Sam remembered that talk on the roof as Steve smirked. “Friendship if you want it.”

“Friendship.”

“That’s just one thing I’d like to offer.” Steve shrugged, “I figure we could start there, right?”

Sam considered him and then considered the beer in his glass. “Yeah, that sounds like the right place to start.” When he looked up, Steve was staring at him with his blue eyes, and then he smiled, raising his glass.

“Wanna toast to that?”

“Toasted to worse things.” So, Sam raised his glass as well. The clink that the glasses made echoed in his head long after they put their glasses down, and just started talking.

* * *

 

Sam didn’t drink enough to make him unsafe to drive, but even still Steve insisted on seeing him to his car. Friendship with Steve wasn’t something he had been considering, not really. Getting the art professors settled into his house, and getting everything on track for the school year had been his first priority. However, Steve was right. The school semester was about to begin. The only thing they could focus on now was making it through the next nine months without any deaths. Friendship with Steve could be nice, Sam thought as he reached for his keys.

Friendship wasn’t really what he wanted though, if he were to be honest with himself. Steve’s bike was back towards the front of the bar, just a few yards away. Sam had parked his car towards the back of the lot so that it wouldn’t get hit by midday drunks. It was a smart move on his part, he thought.

“You have safely escorted me to my car,” Sam said.

“That I have.” Steve smiled at him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sam.”

Before Steve could get too far, Sam stopped him with a “hey, man,” and a press of his hand to his shoulder. Steve turned around with a question on his lips, and Sam answered that question as readily as he could.

A few days ago, he had overheard some of the TAs and Lynn wondering if Steve was a nice kisser or not, wondering a _lot_ about why he dressed in sweats all the time, and why he was so buff. Sam had shut that conversation down quickly because the main office was not the place, but now he had the answer to one of those questions.

Steve was a very nice kisser once he got over the surprise of Sam kissing him. It was a nice, if awkward, first kiss. When it ended, and he was looking at Steve’s flushed face, waiting on something more than a gentle mutter of his name, he couldn’t help but think that this might be something that he wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> As noted, this will be part of a series. I cannot even begin to give you an estimate about when the next part will come out...but hopefully soon! 
> 
> For more of what I'm doing feel free to check my [website](http://www.sammyaworks.com/), [twitter ](https://twitter.com/sammyakei), or [tumblr](https://sammyakei.tumblr.com/)! 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always love. 
> 
> -Sammya


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